PCI-like, brittle-type failures, characterized by pseudocleavage-plus-fluting features in the fracture surface, branching cracks, and small diametral strain, were observed to occur at 292 to 325°C in some batches of spent power-reactor fuel-cladding tubes under internal gas-pressurization and expanding-mandrel loading conditions in which the tests were not influenced by fission product simulants. Fractographic characteristics per se do not provide evidence for a PCI failure mechanism but should be deemed only as cooroborative in nature. Evaluation of TEM thin-foil specimens, obtained from regions adjacent to the brittle-type fracture sites, characteristically revealed extensive amounts of Zr3O precipitates and a lack of slip dislocations. The precipitation of the Zr3O phase appears to be enhanced by a high density of irradiation-induced defects. The brittle-type failure produced in the spent-fuel cladding tubes appears to be associated with segregation of oxygen to dislocation substructures and irradiation-induced defects, which leads to the formation of an ordered zirconium-oxygen phase of Zr3O, an immobilization of dislocations, and minimal plastic deformation in the cladding material.

The Zircaloy cladding of water reactor fuel rods is susceptible to local breach-type failure, commonly known as pellet-cladding interaction (PCI) failure, during operational and off-normal power transients after the fuel has achieved a sufficiently high burnup. An optimization of power ramp procedures or fuel rod fabrication to minimize the cladding failure would result in a significant decrease in radiation exposure of plant personnel due to background and airborne radioactivity as well as an extension of core life in terms of allowable off-gas radioactivity. As part of a program to provide a better understanding of the fuel rod faiure phenomenon and to facilitate the formulation of a better failure criterion, a mechanistic study of the deformation and fracture behavior of high-burnup spent-fuel cladding is in progress under simulated PCI conditions.

Zircaloy cladding from high-burnup (> 20 MWd/kg U) fuel rods in light-water reactors is characterized by a high density of irradiation-induced defects (RID), compositional changes (e.g., oxygen and hydrogen uptake) associated with in-service corrosion, and geometrical changes produced by creepdown, bowing, and irradiation-induced growth. During a reactor power transient, the cladding is subject to localized stress imposed by thermal expansion of the cracked fuel pellets and to mechanical constraints imposed by pellet-cladding friction. As part of a program to provide a better understanding of brittle-type failure of Zircaloy fuel cladding by pellet-cladding interaction (PCI) phenomenon, the stress-rupture properties and microstructural characteristics of high-burnup spent fuel cladding have been under investigation. This paper reports the results of the microstructural examinations by optical microscopy, scanning (SEM), 100-keV transmission (TEM), and 1 MeV high-voltage (HVEM) electron microscopies of the fractured spent fuel cladding with a specific empahsis on a correlation of the structural characteristics with the fracture behavior.

Zircaloy cladding tube specimens from commercial power reactor fuel assemblies (burnup >22 MWd/kgU) have been deformed to fracture at 325°C by either the internal gas-pressurization or the expanding-mandrel technique in a helium or argon environment containing no fission product species (e.g., I, Cs, or Cd). The fracture surfaces of ten irradiated specimens fractured by internal gas pressurization were examined by scanning electron microscopy; six specimens were found to contain various degrees of the pseudocleavage feature that is characteristic of pellet-cladding interaction failures. Out of ten test specimens fractured by expanding-mandrel loading, five were found to contain regions of pseudocleavage on the fracture surfaces. The specimens exhibited "X-marks" on the outer surface and brittle incipient cracks distributed on the inner surface, which are also characteristic of pellet-cladding interaction failures. Transmission/high-voltage electron microscope examinations of the thin-foil specimens obtained from regions adjacent to the failure sites showed that the ductile-failure specimens were characterized by a high density of dislocations which showed normal ->?-type Burgers vectors. In contrast, the brittle-type specimens were characterized by comparatively few dislocations which formed substructures. The dislocations in the brittle specimens were decorated by Zr3O precipitates 2 to 6 nm in size, and cubic-ZrO2 precipitates ? 10 nm in size were also observed in high density. These observations indicate a general immobilization of the dislocations. The low-ductility brittle-type failures appear to have been produced primarily as a result of the Zr3O and cubic-ZrO2 precipitates, augmented by precipitates of bulk hydride 35 to 100 nm in size. The bulk nature of these precipitates, which contrasts with the surficial nature of monoclinic ZrO2 and ?-hydride precipitates, was indicated from stereomicroscopy of weak-beam dark-field images. In situ irradiation of the spent-fuel cladding specimens by 1-MeV electrons at 325°C indicates that the Zr3O and cubic-ZrO2 precipitation is irradiation-induced, whereas the bulk hydride is not.

Worldwide there are more than 430 nuclear power plants operating and more plants are being constructed or planned for construction. For nuclear power to be sustainable the nuclear fuel must be sustainable and there should be adequate nuclear fuel waste management program. Continuous technological advances will lead towards sustainable nuclear fuel through closed fuel cycles and advance fuel development. This focuses on challenges and issues that need to be addressed for better performance and safety of nuclear fuel in nuclear plants. These focused areas are on development of high conductivity new fuels, radiation induced corrosion, fuel behavior during abnormal events in reactor, and decontamination of radioactive material.